“I think this year’s festival will give visitors a good feel for Jack Kerouac’s literary and cultural legacy and its continuing impact,” said the Rev. Steven Eddington, treasurer and longtime member of the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac committee which has hosted the event for 30 years. “And we also want to celebrate the importance of Lowell to Kerouac, who based five of his novels on his hometown.”

Raised in Lowell, Kerouac (1922-1969) was a literary iconoclast who pioneered what he called “spontaneous prose,” a lyrical evocation of his life and travels. He wrote more than 20 novels, including "On the Road," “The Dharma Bums,” “Desolation Angels,” “Visons of Cody,” several volumes of poetry and several works published posthumously.

Eddington said this year’s festival and Charters’ lecture commemorates the 60th anniversary of the publication of “The Dharma Bums” in which Kerouac wrote lyrically about the appeal of Buddhism and the spiritual power of nature.

“Kerouac’s continuing popularity comes from his ability to capture those moments when we want to break away from the humdrum and seek all of life’s possibilities. I believe the festival keeps that spirit alive,” he said.

The festival features several events daily, building to a crescendo Saturday, Oct. 6 with a 9 a.m. gathering at Kerouac Commemorative Park on Bridge Street, Brian Foye’s 12:30 p.m. presentation on the history of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac at the Pollard Library, Charters’ 2 p.m. lecture at the National Historical Park Visitors Center and Vance Gilbert’s musical performance at 9 p.m. and Zorba’s Music Hall.

Many people find time to visit Kerouac’s gravesite in Edson Cemetery where devoted fans leave wine bottles, road maps and personal messages at the marker for the writer and his third wife, bearing the inscription, “He Honored Life.” A more recent headstone reads “The Road Is Life.”

Several of the festival’s expected highlights include musical performances by David Amram, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who accompanied Kerouac on his French horn in Greenwich Village poetry readings.

Amram and friends will perform Friday, Oct. 5 at 8:30 p.m. at Zorba’s Music Hall and at his popular Amram Jam Sunday, Oct. 7 at 1:30 p.m. at the Old Worthen Tavern.

Roger Brunelle said first-time visitors, as well as devoted fans, will enjoy festival events that cast light on Kerouac’s formative years that led to revealing but less popular novels such as “Visions of Gerard,” Maggie Cassidy” and Dr. Sax.”

A Lowell native who lives a short distance from Kerouac’s childhood home, Brunelle, a retired teacher, designed and led several popular walking tours for the festival that include strolls through the Pawtucketville neighborhood and local sights that appeared in several novels.

He recalled meeting Kerouac when the writer visited Lowell High School two years before his death and being struck by his tired look, except for his bright blue eyes.

Brunelle said visitors “will take from the festival the same excitement and openness to adventure Kerouac put into his novels.”

“Jack squeezed all his life into his books. He wrote multifaceted stories like a crystal ball that reflected all he’d lived through,” said Brunelle. “All these years later, that crystal ball is still turning.”

“2018 Lowell Celebrates Kerouac”

WHEN: Oct. 4-8

ADMISSION: Most events are free; some musical performances request a donation